The Best Way to Create a Trademark

Creating or selecting a trademark is no easy task. It’s more than just picking a name that you like. Here are a few helpful tips to help you select a trademark that is most likely to be approved for registration by the federal government.

Make sure it satisfies legal requirements

First, you should try your best to ensure that your potential mark meets the requirements of federal trademark trademark law so that you can legally protect it. There isn’t much of a benefit to creating a name, spending money on a website, business cards and marketing only to realize that you cannot register it with the federal government in order to protect your legal rights. The best way to fully understand the legal criteria for a federal trademark is to hire an experienced trademark attorney to help you with the process. However, here are just a few things you may want to consider when creating a trademark:

  • The mark should not be difficult to spell, pronounce or recall;
  • Make sure it does not have an offensive meaning in other languages;
  • It should have no unfriendly significance in slang or undesirable essences;
  • It should be suitable for a variety of markets, particularly if you plan to market the item abroad;
  • It should not be perplex;
  • It should be versatile and be able to be used in various forms of media.

Strategies for Creating Your Trademark:

You may use the following strategies for creating your trademark:

  1. Created words (or fanciful words): These are assembled words with no genuine importance in any dialect (e.g. Kodak or Exxon). The benefit to using a word you concoct is that they are easier to legally protect. The downside is that they may be difficult for shoppers to recall. This means you may have to spend more money marketing the word to create market awareness so that the public associates it with your goods and services.
  2. Self-assertive words – These are trademarks that comprise of words that have a genuine significance in a given dialect. The importance of such words may not have any true connection to the item itself or to any of its qualities (e.g. Mac for a Computer). Similar to the case with created words, they are simple words for customers. However, there is no immediate relationship between the word and the item that you are promoting which may require more marketing funds.
  3. Suggestive words – Suggestive words are words that describe one or a percentage of the qualities of the item. These words create an immediate relationship in the psyche of buyers between the trademark and certain qualities of the item. The primary risk is that these words may not be distinctive enough to meet the legally standards to register your trademark on the federal level in order to provide maximum legal protection for your brand.

Overall, there are a number of ways to create a trademark for your business, brand or nonprofit. However, the most important thing is to make sure that it meets the legal criteria needed so that you can register it and protect it. Our trademark attorney  is based in Orlando but has a nationwide trademark law practice that focuses on helping clients create trademarks and legally protect them. Give us a call today for a free consultation to discuss how we can help you create yours!